Abstract
Cancer morbidity decreased in the last few years of the twentieth century, in large part due to early detection as well as the campaign against tobacco. The relationship between viruses and cancer, and the elaboration of the oncogene theory—from the early work on phage lambda and lysogeny—to oncogenes is presented. The majority of cancers result from somatic mutations and chromosomal rearrangements, which may cause proto-oncogene activation. Mutations in tumor suppressor genes also end in tumor formation. The function of these different genes is discussed, as are hereditary cancers. Viruses—such as papilloma, hepatitis C, hepatitis B, human herpes 8, Epstein-Barr virus and HTLV-1—induce cancers by varied mechanisms.
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Taylor, M.W. (2014). Cancer and Viruses. In: Viruses and Man: A History of Interactions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07758-1_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07758-1_8
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